Think your New Year's privacy reset worked? Think again

At the start of the year, you did everything right. You searched your name, opted out of several data broker sites and deleted listings that exposed your address, phone number and relatives.

At first, it felt like a clean slate. However, here's the uncomfortable truth: your data rarely stays gone. In many cases, February is when it quietly returns.

Privacy does not work as a one-time cleanup. Instead, it requires ongoing maintenance, because data brokers design their systems to outlast your best intentions.